Authorities searching water for drowning victim

Authorities search Tuesday morning for a possible drowning victim in the area of Big Creek Park.

Authorities are searching this morning for the victim of a possible drowning reported Monday night, according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office.

Hall County Fire Services responded to the call after 8 p.m. in the Big Creek Park area on the south end of the lake, near Holiday Marina.

A woman jumped into the water from her boat and never resurfaced, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Nicole Bailes said.

“Due to not knowing an exact location and the water being 80 to 90 feet deep, Hall County Fire Services — Marine Rescue divers will not be entering the water,” fire spokesman Scott Cagle said late Monday night in a statement. “(The Department of Natural Resources) is running radar to better pinpoint a location.”

Sheriff’s Office divers and Department of Natural Resources are on scene, with the DNR scanning the water just before noon today.

Few other details were available about the incident.

Earlier Monday, a woman suffered a severe head laceration after the boat she was operating was struck by another vessel in the Ada Creek area on the north side of Lake Lanier.

She was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville and listed in serious but stable condition Monday, according to Sgt. Mike Burgamy, Lake Lanier supervisor for DNR.

Burgamy said the victim’s boat was sitting idle with a skier in the water near the mouth of the creek when another boat, traveling south out of the creek and into the lake channel, struck it.

Officials said they were not releasing the names of those involved as the investigation unfolds. Alcohol does not appear to be a factor, they said.

More deaths have occurred on state waters so far this year than last, state officials have said.

Coming into the weekend, the Department of Natural Resources reported 68 boating accidents resulting in six fatalities, plus 33 drownings on lakes and rivers.

At the same time last year, there were eight fatalities related to boating accidents but just 22 drownings.